Price card holder



March 17, 1942. c. F. HOOFER PRICE CARD HOLDER Filed July 15, 1940ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 17, 1942 UN IT E D STAT PRICE map Hermie CharlesF. Eoofer, Chicago, Ill. Application July 15, 1940, Serial No. 345,685

8 Claims. (Cl. d23) My invention relates to price card holders, and hasamong its objects and advantages the provision of an improved holderparticularly adapted for attachment to pans, trays, bottles andthe like.

An object of my invention is to provide a price card holder designed tofacilitate attachment to display trays, receptacles and the like, inwhich the holder is so devised as to permit the price cards to be neatlyarranged and supported. in upright. positions, and in which the holderis designed for effective connection with display containers ofdifierent sizes and shapes. More specifically, the price card holderembodies a spring attaching clip fashioned to accommodate differ- 1ently fashioned display containers for attaching purposes.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational View of a tray illuse trating my inventionapplied thereto;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the price tag holder, with the price cardillustrated in section; I

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the holder;

Figure 4 is an elevational View of the holder applied to the flange of adisplay tray, with a portion of the holder and the tray illustrated in 1section;

Figure 5 is a view taken along the line indicated by 55 of Figure 4,with the holder detached from the tray;

Figure 6 is a view illustrating another form of my inventionparticularly adapted for connection with bottles;

Figure 7 is a sectional view along the line 1-1 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a view of another form of the invention;

Figure 9 is a. View similar to Figure 8 but illustrating certain partsin section for the purpose of illustration;

Figure 10 is an elevatienal view of the holder of Figures 8 and 9, witha portion of the holder broken away for the purpose of illustration;

Figure 11 is a vertical sectional view of a holder in accordance withFigures 6 and 7 but illustrating the holder rotated 180 degrees about ahorizontal axis;

Figure 12 is a perspective View of a difierent form of card holder; and

Figure 13 is a sectional view of the card hold.- ing trough of theholder of Figure 12.

In the embodiment selected to illustrate my invention, I make use of asheet metal strap l0 bent at [2 to provide a pan wall engaging element Mto abut the panor tray wall it. Pan I includes a flange I8, and the.strap includesa flange engaging element 20 arranged at an angle ofslightly more than 90- degrees with I'YESPQCEJEOY the element [4. Strapl0 isbent again at 22 to provide an upstanding support .24 for a; pricecard 26. The upper end of the support 2 1 is bent downwardly at 28Jandback upon itself at 30. to provide a groove or furrow 32 for. thereceptionof the lower edge margin of the price card 26.. Fig'.

2 illustrates the groove or furrow structure as being slightly curved,which structure maybe identical with the corresponding structure of Fig.Sin my copending Cardholder application, Serial No. 294,748, filedSeptember 13', 1939 now issued Patent 2,206,775. e Flange engagingelement Zll extendsv underneath the flange I8 and is drawn tightlythereagainst through the medium of spring arms '34 fashioned from asingle-piece of suitable spring wire. Arms 34 extend looselythroughopenings 36 in the support 24, and the arms extend fromconvolutions 38 located adjacent the support 24.

ing element 20. Wall engaging element 14 is slotted at 42 and a portionof its area between the slots struck out to provide a loop 4d throughwhich the bight 46 of the U-shaped element 40 is threaded. Theelemen'tflll isbent' to shape after the wire has been threaded throughthe loop 44.

Eight 46 is of the same length" as the loop'44 so.

that the legs 48 of the element 40 engage there with to restrain theelement All from relative shifting axially of the bight, but the bightis positioned loosely in the loop l l so as to be pivotally connectedtherewith.

Arms 34 are bent at 5.0 to provide runs52 converging toward the bight56, and the convolu tions 38 are so fashioned as to bring the runs 52into pressure engagement with the b'end.l2 in the absence of the flange[8. or.other form of attached support. The runs 52 are also bentupwardly at 54 so that the flange 18 maybe forced easily between theupwardly curved ends and the bend l2 to locate the flange l8 in theposition of Fig. 4, at which time the arms 34 1 press firmly againstthe-flange l8 so that the latter is pinched between the arms and theelement 20. The downwardly" converging runs 52 provide an angularitysuch as to effectively hold the flange in position between the arms andthe element 20. Openings 36 are slightly larger than be bent to hold thecard 26 in a predetermined upright position, and the support also actsas a guide for thearms 34 to hold the latter substantially in therelative aligned positions of Fig. 2. While the arms 34 may flexlaterally from the positions of Fig. 2, the openings 36 are of suchlimited diameters as to restrain the arms from pivoting laterally beyondtheir respective side edges of the element 2|].

Figs. 6, '7 and 11 illustrate another form of the invention, in whichthe price card 56 has one edge margin secured in a furrow formation 58bent from the edge margin of a sheet metal plate 6B. Plate 60 is bentback upon itself at 62 to provide a flange 64 between which and theplate 60 is secured a spring wire clip 63. Clip 66 has a loop formation68 lying flat against the plate 60, and the flange 64 is bent downagainst the plate at I to firmly connect the clip with theplate. Loop 68provides a formation which restrains the clip from relative pivotalmovement with respect to the plate, and the clip is arranged at an angleof 90 degrees to the furrow formation 58 so that the price card 56 ispositioned vertically when the clip 66 is slipped over thebottle neckI2. .Thelegsl4 of the clip 66 are arranged in converging relationoutwardly fromthe bend 62, so that the legs draw'the bottle neck firmlyagainst the bend 62. Fig. '7 illustrates the legs I4 as having theirends bent outwardly with respect to each other so as to facilitate:attachment ofthe clip to the bottle neck by merely pressing the bottleneck between the .two legs 'I4.. Figs.'6 and '7 illustrate the card asbeing arranged in a depending position with respect to the furrowformation 58, while Fig. '11 illustrates the ,clip reversed for holdingthe card 56 in an upright position with respect to the furrow formation.

Figs. 8, 9 and illustrate a further modification in. whicha single pieceof spring wire is fashionedto provide a, spring clip I6 attacheddirectly to the price card I8. Clip I6 is generally U-shaped whenviewedaccording to Figs. 8 and 9, with the legs 80 thereof providedwithsemicircular loops 82 partly encircling rivets 84 passed'throughopenings in the card 78. Fig. 9 illustrates one,of the loops 82 as beingpinched between one flange 86 of the rivet 84 and one face of the pricecard I8, with the other flange 88 'of the rivet bearing against theopposite face of the card- Thus the loops 82 and the bight 90 areclamped. against the, price card I8.

q. .The' two legs88 are convoluted at $2 to provide reaches 94havingconvolutions 96 terminating in curved fingers 98; The flange I80 of thepan or tray wall I02 is positionedbetween the reaches. 94-and. thespring fingers 98,-with the convolutions 92 engaging the flange in suchmanner as to hold-the reaches 94 against the flange I00, with thefingers 98 bearing against th Wall I02.

I In Fig. l2, the price card holder' comprises a single strapof=material bent to provide a standard I04 and-abase I86 which may be"rested on a shelfor thelike ,to supportthe standard in a substantiallyupright position. At the upper end .II4of' the trough I88,,with thetrough curved to Ifie'x the card in a slight degree. Wall H4 is indentedat II 6 to fashion lugs which embed in the card I ID to securely fastenthe price card.- Thus the card II 0 is permanently secured in the troughI08. The standard I04 may be bent to different angular positions withrespect to the base I06 so as to secure desired alignment of the cardIII] with respect to the vertical or most advantageous reading position.Base IDS is of such length as to permit merchandising packages, cans andthe like to be positioned thereon so as to firmly support the holder inan upright position. The thinness of the base is such as to shift thepackage thereon to such a slight angular position as not to impair theorderly arrangement of goods on the shelf or counter. The uprightportion of the holder is inclined upwardly and inwardly of the base I06sufficiently far to secure an eifective balance of the holder whenresting on a support with no other aid than its own weight.

Having thus described certain embodiments of my invention in detail, itis, of course, understood that I do not desire to limit the scopethereof to the exact details set forth except insofar as those detailsmay be defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A price card holder comprising, a. clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card and an abutment, a spring wire bent to provide abight and a pair of resilient fingers, said bight being pivotallyconnected. with said plate, the standard being provided with openings,and said fingers extending loosely through said openings and coactingwith said abutment for frictional connection with a support.

2. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card and an abutment, a spring wire bent to provide abight and a pair of resilient fingers, said bight being pivotallyconnected with said plate, the standard being provided with openings,said fingers extending loosely through said openings and coacting withsaid abutment for frictional connection with a support, said bight beingpivotally connected with said plate, and said fingers. havingconvolutions formed therein.

3. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astand ard for the card and an abutment, a spring wire bent to provide abight and a pairof resiilent fingers, said bight being connected withsaid plate, the standard being provided with openings, and said fingersextending loosely through said openings and coacting with said abutmentfor frictional connection with a support.

4. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card and an abutment, said standardbeing provided withopenings, a spring wire bent to provide a bight and a pair of fingershaving convoluted formations therein, said fingers extending looselythrough said openings, said spring wire being attached to said abutmentwith said convoluted formations located on the side of said standardopposite said spring fingers.-

5. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card, an abutment, a plate margin between the abutmentand the standard, said abutment generally paralleling said standard andsaid plate margin being arranged substantially at right angles to thestandard, said standard having openings, a spring wire bent to providefingers and a bight pivotally connected with the plate substantially inthe intersecting zone of the plate margin and said abutment, saidfingers extending through said openings and arranged to coact with saidplate margin for frictional connection with a support, and convolutionsin said fingers adjacent said standard.

6. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card, an abutment, a plate margin between the abutmentand the standard, said abutment generally paralleling said standard andsaid plate margin being arranged substantially at right angles to thestandard, said standard having openings, a spring wire bent to providefingers and a bight pivotally connected with the plate substantially inthe intersecting zone of the plate margin and said abutment, saidfingers extending through said openings and coacting with the bend insaid plate between said plate margin and said abutment for pinchingconnection with a support, and convolutions in said fingers adjacentsaid standard.

7 A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard for the card, an abutment, a plate margin between the abutmentand the standard, said abutment generally paralleling said standard andsaid plate margin being arranged substantially at right angles to thestandard, said standard having openings, a spring wire bent to providefingers and a bight pivotally connected with the plate substantially inthe intersecting zone of the plate margin and said abutment, saidfingers extending through said openings and coacting with the bend insaid plate between said plate margin and said abutment for pinchingconnection with a support, and convolutions in said fingers adjacentsaid standard, said standard being bendable to facilitate positioning ofsaid price card in a predetermined upright position.

8. A price card holder comprising, a clip for supporting the card in adisplaying position, said clip comprising a plate bent to provide astandard forthe card, an abutment, a plate margin between the abutmentand the standard, said abutment generally paralleling said standard andsaid plate margin being arranged substantially at right angles to thestandard, said standard having openings, a spring wire bent to providefingers and a bight pivotally connected with the plate substantially inthe intersecting zone of the plate margin and said abutment, saidfingers extending through said openings and coacting with the bend insaid plate between said plate margin and said abutment for frictionalconnection with a flange of a walled receptacle, with the fingersfashioned to draw said abutment against the wall of the receptacle, andconvolutions in said fingers adjacent said standard.

CHARLES F. HOOFER.

